16th Telecommunications forum TELFOR 2008

Serbia, Belgrade, November 25-27, 2008.

The Modification of WCDMA Capacity Equation

Abstract There are a lot of different ways to calculate capacity of WCDMA system. Some of them are quite simple and has an explicit form, but some of them are very complicated. The main aim of this workpaper is modification of existed WCDMA capacity expressions for the uplink, integrating more parameters which directly or indirectly affect on it. Even it is more complex, there is a real need for new, modificated WCDMA capacity formula(s). Keywords Capacity, interference, power control, SDMA, WCDMA

I.

INTRODUCTION

WCDMA capacity is one of the key atributes in UMTS network. There are various of definitions of WCDMA capacity but the most of them are referred on maximum number of users per cell or of the whole observed system. Even the definition of WCDMA capacity as it is defined as the total traffic load which is generated in one cell respecting the allowed frequency band (Erl / cell/ 10MHz) [1] can be found, we shall be focused on this one: The capacity of a WCDMA network is the maximum number of simultaneous users for all services which satisfy certain conditions. [2] Definition 1. The uplink and downlink capacities do not have just the different values, but they are not comparable because the uplink capacity is mostly related to number of users, and the downlink capacity is related to transmitted power of node-B. Also, the WCDMA capacity should be parted from the WCDMA throughput and link-budget, even they are related. This workpaper will try to comprise different parameters and relations which affect on WCDMA capacity and suggest the new WCDMA capacity expression(s). II. WCDMA CAPACITY ON THE UPLINK

The WCDMA capacity is basically determined by processing gain and required signal-to-noise ratio. The interference is already included in noise power density and it comprises the Multiple Access Interference (MAI), (interference of other users from observed, home cell and interference of users from the adjacent cell), self interference and co-channel interference. The real case also includes the paralell signal covering by more than one operator, so the influence of this overlaping also could be considered because it impacts on adjanced channel
Alma Skopljak Ramovi, BH Telecom, BH Mobile (telefon: 387-33-641466; e-mail: [email protected])

interference [3]. Other parameters which impact on WCDMA capacity are based on: Structure of the radio-network. Cell size and formation determine the interference value and for the WCDMA capacity calculation it is also important to stress if isolated sector-cell or multisectorized system is observed. User distribution, if it is uniform or not. The user position is determined in relation to its jammers and the node-B position or precisely, to direction of its signal coverige. So the case becomes more complicated if the observed active user is surrounded by its jammers. This is very good described in [1] and [2]. Type of used services: real-time and non-real-time (conversational, interactive, streaming and background services). Real-time applications need some guaranteed minimum transmission rate which requires reservation of system capacity. The multi-service environment impacts on the activity factor and also on required signal-to-noise ratio. Related to service type, the traffic load and traffic model also could be considered as they are in [4]. The characteristics of node-B receiver (for the uplink) and its antenna system. The signal processing of the node-B is probably the most important thing for the WCDMA capacity. Also the antenna construction and antenna's parameters significally impact on WCDMA capacity. Power control (perfect or imperfect). Since the capacity of a WCDMA network is interference-bound, the study of capacity characteristics focuses primarily on the methods of reducing interference. Fast and precise power control is a key requirement for CDMA technology. Power control aims to reduce interference by minimizing the effects of the near-far problem. Transmitted power of a node-B and a path loss (for the downlink). Let a cell with K active users which simultaneously access to network on the same frequency be considered. Every user has its own PN sequence. So, if the P is carrier power, Eb energy per signal bit, Bc bandwitdh of the spread sequence, fdata information rate, l interference power and Nb noise power density, than it can be written:

Eb =

P f data

Eb P ; = N 0 N 0 f data

N0 =

I Bc

(1)

E b P Bc P = = PG N 0 I f data I

(2)

where the PG is the processing gain. This definition of the processing gain is derived from the QPSK modulation

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characteristic: the RF bandwidth matches with PN sequence rate Bc = f ip . Eb/N0 is constant for defined BER. If the power of signals of all active users has the same value and all PN sequences have the same rate, than it is, according to [5]:

where the

is correction factor which describes power

I ( K 1) P PG ; = = K 1 = P P Eb / N 0 PG . K = 1+ Eb / N 0

(3) (4)

control (im)perfection, the is the factor which describes co-channel interference from the other cells and the is the service acitivity factor. The typical values of these parameters which impact on WCDMA capacity are shown in the Table 1. [7]
TABLE 1: CORRECTION FACTORS WHICH IMPACT ON WCDMA CAPACITY Parameter Correction factor of power control Average values 0,5 1,0 0,4 0,6 0,5 0,9

The equation (4) which defines the number of simultaneously active users is the basic for the WCDMA capacity and all forward modifications will be done based on it. Analyzing the (4) it can be concluded that the raising of PG value for the constant value of the Eb/N0 ratio leads to increased system capacity. Or if the PG has the fixed value, decreasing Eb/N0 (if the QoS is not disturb), the capacity also could be raised. Traffic load of uplink in ideal case, assuming the power control is ideal, according to [6] is: K , (5) UL = PG 1+ Eb N0 where K is the number of active users. Relation between traffic load and continuity of usage of some service is defined with service activity factor . It could be explained by this: during voice or data connection establishment there are certain gaps in data flow which can be used for other data flows. It is inversely proportional to WCDMA system capacity, which means the more intesive information flow - the less capacity of CDMA system:

Voice activity factor vo Co-channel interference from the other cells (neighbours)

Analyzing the as the effect of co-channel interference from the other cells in a multicell system, it can be found that the typical value for for a triple-sector cell is 0,85. If the omnidirectional antenna is used, than

=0,6.

In order to exprime WCDMA capacity in accordonance with Definition 1 (Introduction) it is very important to consider various services g = 1, G that are provided by operator. Every type of service has its own data rate, and therefore processing gain, service activity factor, required signal-to-noise ratio and even co-channel interference. So we will include these facts in equation (8):

K* = Kg =
g =1

Originally, the service activity factor has been the voice activity factor, but if more services than conversational service are considered, the description of this activity factor has to be changed. The power control is certanly not perfect because of multipath signal propagation conditions and because the transmitted signals from the all users are not equal. That can be defined using the log-normal distribution with the deviation 1,5 2,5 dB or using the suitable correction factor

PG 1 . K = 1+ Eb / N 0

(6)

= 1+ p
g =1

(E b

PG g

N 0 )g

(1 + )
g

2
S

(8)

Non-real time services (like data transport services) does not require as high QoS (Quality of Service) as real-time services does. This allows E b / N 0 to be reduced which will increase WCDMA capacity. [8] The equation (8) is the first suggested expression for calculation of WCDMA capacity derived from the known equations and WCDMA atributes which are mentioned earlier. III. HOW TO INCREASE WCDMA CAPACITY

p . So the capacity could be defined similar to equation

(6), according to [5]:

Here, S is introduced as the background noise power to received power (of the certain referent user) ratio which also affects on WCDMA capacity, according to [2].
2

System capacity can be increased by interference elimination methods. Some of mentioned methods are: usage of directional antenna instead of omnidirectional ones, diversity, improved antenna processing system, Rake receiver, various types of interference cancellers etc. First, the interference due to other users can be reduced by replacing an omnidirectional antenna with a directional one.

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For example, a 3-sector antenna would increase the capacity by a factor of about 23. Usage of the adaptive (multi)antenna system with above mentioned assumptions will increase WCDMA capacity, so the parameter Ab which describes antenna gain of referent user to antenna gain of its jammers ratio could be input directly to (7) according to [1]. WCDMA capacity for a single service can be written now as:

detection), for one service, the number of simultaneously active users will be 23 for Ab = 1,2 for example. Minimizing the value of the Eb/N0, the use of certain correction code becomes necessary. It is known that in WCDMA systems convolutional coding brings 4 to 6 dB of gain. [5] Now, we'll modify the (8) inserting the antenna gain ratio Ab in equation:

K =1+

PG Ab p 2 Eb / N 0 (1 + ) S

(9)

K* = Kg =
g =1

We use the equation (9), as another suggested expression, to show affects of usage the multiantenna system, which is represented here by the Ab , on increasing the overall capacity. Even the Ab could be easily related with the number of the antenna elements B, as it is indirectly in [9]: (10) ab dB = 10 log B

= 1 + p Ab
g =1

(E b

PG g

N 0 )g

(1 + )
g

2
S

(11)

[ ]

where ab is antenna gain expressed in dB, here well not use this approximation. The reason is that, the improvement in performance with adaptive antenna depends upon the antenna type: linear, planar or circular the number of elements in the array, and the spacing between adjacent elements (which is usually one half of the carrier wavelength), so these facts are not included in (10). The improvement in signal-to-interference ratio is about 3 dB with two elements, 6 dB with four elements, 7.75 dB with six elements, and 9 dB with eight elements. [5]

for G services in WCDMA system. This modificated expression for the WCDMA capacity for G different services includes few significant parameters and it has the more precised result comparing to other expressions. Obvioulsy, expression (11) could be adapted further. Here, well mention also the SDMA (Space Division Multiple Access) re-use functionality as another method for increasing the WCDMA capacity. SDMA re-use functionality is multiple access technique which could be activated by more than one user located on the area of one cell for using same resources: time / frequency / code sequence (t/f/C), dependently on user location and spatial distance to other user(s). It is shown on Fig.2.

1
d1

d2

Fig.1 Number of active users as function of signal-to-noise ratio for the different antenna gain ratio Ab

Fig. 2 Example of SDMA re-use functionality [11]

Obviously, the implementation of multiantenna system will reduce the average interference level from all users particullary, so the total channel capacity increases. [10] The expression (9) could also be used for comparing the values of WCDMA capacity depended on signal-to-noise ratio for the different antenna gain ratio as it described above. This is shown on Fig. 1. So, for demanded signal-tonoise ratio 9,6dB (for the BPSK or QPSK with coherent

SDMA techniques are also implemented with adaptive antenna systems and obviously have a great influence on WCDMA capacity, but it is hard to find some expression which describes their relation. IV. CONCLUSION

Probably it is not possible to comprehend all parameters which affect on WCDMA capacity and implement them in simple and usable expession. This workpaper has been shown the way of modifying the basic expression of

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WCDMA capacity, inserting elements which have significant impact on it. The modified expression for the calculation of WCDMA capacity has been also suggested. The usage of multiantenna (adaptive) system as the method for increasing the system capacity is strongly recommended and it has been inserted in WCMA capacity equation as parameter which describes it. Implementing SDMA re-use functionality into the WCDMA capacity expression could be the next step in modifying and adapting it. Also, finding the other methods which increase the WCDMA capacity and overall system capacity should be the imperative. REFERENCES
[1] F. Swarts, P. van Rooyen, I.Oppermann, M.P. Lotter , CDMA Techniques for Third Generation Mobile Systems, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2000. [2] N. Son, Capacity and Throughput Optimization in Multi-cell 3G WCDMA Networks, University of North Texas, 2005.

[3] D. Figueiredo, P. Matos, A. Rodrigues, Impact of Adjacent Channel Interference on the Capacity of WCDMA/FDD Networks, Technical University of Lisbon [4] N.Hedge and E. Altman, Capacity of multiservice WCDMA Networks with variable GOS, INRIA, 2004. [5] M.R. Karim and M. Sarraf, W-CDMA and cdma2000 for 3G Mobile Networks, McGraw-Hill, New York, 2002. [6] T.Griparis, T. Lee, The Capacity of a WCDMA Network A Case Study, Bechtel, 2005. [7] S.C. Yang, 3G CDMA2000 Wireless System Engineering,Artech House, 2004. USA [8] J.Korhonen, Introduction to 3G Mobile Communications, Second Edition, Artech House Boston, 2003. [9] A. Skopljak,Multiantenna CDMA systems and their usage in 3G network, MSc thesis, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Sarajevo, 2007. [10] J.Niemela, J. Lempianen, Impact of the Base Station Antenna Beamwidth on Capacity in WCDMA Cellular Networks [11] A. Skopljak The SDMA Re-Use Functionality in WCDMA network, ELMAR proceedings, Zadar, 2008

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